The grasslands beyond the village of Yumbu are a well-known site for the only endemic on Sumba that cannot be found within the forests, Sumba Buttonquail. The site is located roughly 15 km East of Waingapu and can easily be reached from here. We arranged ojeks from Waingapu to the Yumbu bridge (jembatan Yumbu in Bahasa Indonesia) for 100.000 IDR including waiting time, which was a fair price I think.
We arrived at the bridge around 07:00 and decided that the grasslands East of the bridge (beyond the bridge when coming from Waingapu) looked more promising than the grasslands West of the bridge (before the bridge when coming from Waingapu) and started our searches on the North side (the left side of the road when coming from Waingapu). It took a while before we flushed the first Buttonquail here but at least it allowed some fairly decent views, showing a greyish face and rusty-brown flanks enabling us to positively identify it as a Sumba Buttonquail. We also found a big family group of Brown Quails in this area that allowed absolutely stunning views while standing completely in the open.
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| Brown Quails (Coturnix ypsilophora) |
After an hour we crossed the road and decided to check the South side (the right side of the road when coming from Waingapu) for another hour, as I had read in trip reports that Sumba Buttonquail is more common on ridge on this side of the road, even though the grasslands look not so good. We flushed two buttonquails here rather quickly and later another two. My girlfriend even saw one on the ground for a few seconds. Of those four, three could be identified positively as Sumba Buttonquail, while one looked rather pale. It seems to me that Sumba Buttonquail prefers grasslands mixed with bare rock, but perhaps this side is less disturbed than the North side… We also saw a Spotted Harrier in the area, next to some more common species like Timor Zebra Finch, Barred dove, Red Avadavat, Australasian Bush lark and White-shouldered Triller.
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| Spotted Harrier (Circus assimilis) |
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| Timor Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) |
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| Barred Doves (Geopelia maugei) |
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| Australasian Bushlark (Mirafra javanica) |
We enjoyed searching for Sumba Buttonquail at this site a lot, not just because we found them but also because the view from the ridge on the South side is quite nice and it was not as hot as we had expected. However I think it might also be a good idea to search for the buttonquails in the afternoon, as you are likely to get dropped at the bridge and then walk towards the East. This means that during the morning the light is not so great at first, but better during the return journey to the bridge. During the afternoon this situation would be the opposite.
A flock of Timor Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata) flying over the Yumbu Grasslands (video made by Anna van der Kaaden)
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